The hero of Ba Sing Se
by Raven Shadowe
Summary: Iroh tells Aang the story of his dead son Lu Ten, and the siege of Ba Sing Se. This is my first story posted on this site. Rated T for violence. Please review.
1. Lu Ten

Disclaimer: No, I do not own the world of Avatar, or anyone or anything in it. I wrote the story, and that's it. I own nothing.

Note: I have always been a big fan of Uncle Iroh, and of Lu Ten, right from when I first started watching the series, and I was recently inspired to write this.

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this story to Mako, who voice Uncle Iroh in seasons one and two.

* * *

Water

Earth

Fire

Air

Long ago, the four nations lived in peace and harmony, but all that changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new avatar, an air bender named Aang, and although his air bending skills were great, he had a long way to go before he was ready to save anyone. But I believed in him right up to the day Aang saved the world.

* * *

Previously, on Avatar:

Admiral Zhao and General Iroh stood on the ship, discussing important business. "Yes, I've heard of your little foray into the spirit world."

* * *

"Ever since I lost my son…" Iroh turned away from his nephew, tears coming to his eyes.

"Uncle, you don't have to say it."

"I think of you as my own."

* * *

Uncle Iroh stared proudly up at his nephew on the eel-hound, then smiled. "After we reconquer Ba Sing Se," he said, "I'm going to reconquer my tea shop, and play Pai Sho every day."

* * *

"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow." Sang Iroh, tears streaming down his cheeks. The tree was tall and strong, and the sketch of his son still looked as though it had been drawn a mere day ago. It was a beautiful day. "Happy birthday, son." said Iroh.

* * *

Book 3, Fire.

Chapter 22, Lu Ten

* * *

In the red half light of dusk, little Lu Ten chased his father around in a complicated game of tag. "I got you dad!" The young fire prince laughed playfully as Iroh pretended to be struck by fire. The two play wrestled for a few minutes on the ground, before relaxing in the cool breeze, enjoying one another's company.

"Why is the breeze so pleasant?" asked Lu Ten. "I never thought anything cold could feel so…nice."

Iroh smiled and did not open his eyes. "My boy, in time you will learn that pleasure does not arise only from fire, nor is good found in it alone. Each of the four elements is worthy of attention, for each can give both good and evil. The cool air on a hot day can be a life saver. Believe me." he wiggled his bare toes in appreciation, causing his son to laugh.

Iroh sat up in bed. It was morning, the jasmine dragon was set to open for the day in less than half an hour, and no matter how many times he dreamed of his son, Lu Ten was still dead.

He sighed, and got out of bed. He dressed himself and descended the stairs to ready the shop.

He had just finished when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it, prepared to welcome his early guest.

In swooped an old friend of the fire bending tea master on a glider, followed by a flying lemur. Outside he could hear the heavy breathing of the world's last sky bison.

"Hello Aang, I'm glad to see you again. You don't come to see me often enough."

"Sorry." the monk landed on the back of a chair and balanced there perfectly, perched in a crouching position. "I would have come last night, but it was cloudy. By the time I got to the city, it was so late I figured you'd be in bed."

"I probably was. I retired early last night. But not to worry, an old friend is welcome whenever he arrives, regardless of how often he does so. It is one of the ways we know who means the most to us."

"Does Zuko come to see you often enough?"

"As often as he can, but I still find myself missing him very much. When winter comes again, I think I will see about spending some time in the fire nation. Give the other tea shops in the city time to prosper." the old man turned to polish a tea pot. "To be honest, I miss him more now than I have in a long time."

"How so?" the boy leaned forward expectantly, then realized what he had done and shouted "Whoa!" as he redistributed his weight to land on his feet and catch the chair he had been sitting on as it fell.

Iroh smiled. "Not to worry, unlike people, a chair's legs are easily replaced." his face became more serious. "I miss my nephew so much, because…well, in his absence I've been having frequent dreams about my son." tears came to his eyes and threatened to fall.

"Oh." Aang's expression turned somber, and he bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I never knew your son. He must have been a great man."

"So great. And so eager to please. He always wanted what was best for his nation. And he was never afraid to get his butt kicked at Pai Sho one more time."

Aang stepped closer and put a comforting hand on Iroh's shoulder. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I am long past the time in life when parents usually brag about their children. And telling you about him would not do anything for anyone now. Before he…" a sob escaped the old man's lips, and he stopped momentarily. "before I lost him, I was just like any other fire nation prince. I barely knew or cared about right and wrong. I only wanted victory. To be a hero. And that was what I taught my son, and he learned. And he succeeded. But it took…what happened to turn my life around. I have never felt anything but great grief for his death, but I rejoice that it resulted in this simpler world, and all the wonderful friends I have made. Especially Zuko. I have tried to make this life one that my son would be proud to have sparked."

"So he was a great guy. I wonder if there's anything I could learn from him."

"You just want a good story, don't you?"

"A good story from a good friend. And, I think you might benefit from getting it off your chest."

"Very well." Iroh sat down. "Do you mind if we play Pai Sho while I tell it? It will take my mind off of things, and pass the time till customers start arriving."

Aang obliged. The game held a soft spot in his heart. It reminded him of monk Gyatso.

Raven Shadowe's fiction channel will be right back after these messages (Commercial break)

Avatar the last air bender is back on Raven Shadowe's fiction channel

Lu Ten stared out at the fleet of fire nation ships waiting to depart. They would leave in a few days. The last stages of planning were being conducted in the war room of Fire Lord Azulon. He had decided not to attend.

The captain felt a tug at his armor, and looked down to find little eight year old Zuko staring up at him. "What's up Zuko?" he asked, and reached down to pull the boy up to his shoulder. "Wow, soon you'll be too big for me to do this, and then it'll be time for you to go off to war."

The boy's expression saddened. "Do you have to go?" he asked.

"More or less. I think I'd rather stay here with you and Mai and Ty Lee, and even Azula to some…self destructive extent. But you can't be a war hero if you just stay at home all the time." Lu Ten bent over and put Zuko down. "You my friend are very very big. I'm sure that soon you'll be bending with the best of them. I hope I get to see your first Agni Kai. I bet you'll burn the face off your dishonorable opponent."

"Yea right." Zuko found firm footing and stared up at his cousin again. "I'll try, if you promise to be there."

"And if I'm not then you won't?"

"Nope."

"Then I promise."

Later that evening, Lu Ten met his father in the palace for a small respite from the battle preparations. "Father," he said, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Yes son?"

"I'm not sure I want to go to Ba Sing Se."

"What? But I thought it was your dream to take it. We were going to do it together."

"I know, but I've been thinking. I know I want to win the city for the fire nation, but what if we lose? I couldn't bare to live with myself if you died. Spirits alive, I'd be next in line for the throne. How would I handle that kind of responsibility?"

"Oh, so you don't want me to go either do you? Well, I'm sorry my son, but I'm going. I know I will conquer it. And as for politics…you know well enough how to use a sword. Believe me, the political world is just like a two edged sword. Swing it in the wrong direction and it will bite you harder than the one you meant to cut. But learn its ways, and you will have a tremendous advantage over anyone else you come up against."

"This isn't very encouraging. I met Zuko today. I think he's scared for us."

"As well he should be. He is too young to understand the complexities of war, and yet he knows that wherever there is war, someone has to lose. But, we will surprise him and be back in time for his birthday in a few months."

The captain looked at the floor. "I just wish something could take my mind off of things. I'm so tense. I've fought Agni Kais before, and I've even seen battle and killed men. But this isn't some little fringe village to be marched into and sacked in the name of simplicity. This is Ba Sing Se, the hub of the earth kingdom civilization. The number of troops you've amassed is amazing, but I'm afraid it will take many months to conquer it. I'm afraid we may even miss more than one of Zuko's birthdays over this. It's the biggest thing anyone's ever gone after. And plenty have gone after it, but they've all died. I need to do something for my nerves."

Iroh listened closely to his son's concerns. "Hmm, you know what would make you feel better?" he asked. "A good game of Pai Sho and some jasmine tea."

The captain smirked. He had long since given up trying to beat his father at the game, but he never minded playing. And Jasmine was his favorite flavor of tea. "I suppose if nothing else will work."

As Iroh set up the board he began to hum a familiar tune. Lu Ten recognized it and, smiling, started singing just as his father did.

"Leaves from the vine," they sang, "falling so slow, like fragile and tiny shells, drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy, come marching home. Brave soldier boy, comes marching home."

On the deck of the general's ship, Lu Ten cranked out his katas one by one, increasing their intensity as he went along. He had heard of the Dai Lee, and he would be ready for them. Fire streamed from his finger tips, and shot out from his fists. Arcs flew from his feet as he executed perfect crescent kicks. His invisible opponent was losing.

General Iroh watched from the ship's helm as his son practiced. _He's got much too much anger going on in there. Or maybe it's just fury. Aren't they the same thing?_ He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. _Anyway, it's too emotional. Too wild. To unleash the cold hearted fire, he needs to let go of all this. His desire to be the perfect hero. Even his desire to make me proud. He must be calmer than the sea on a windless day._

"Dragon!"

Iroh's eyes snapped open to see who had spoken. It was the helmsman, pointing to port. Sure enough, flying low over the earth kingdom hills about a mile inland from shore was a gigantic, majestic blue dragon.

The cry rang out again. "Dragon!"

Iroh patted the man on the shoulder. "Yes, I see it is a dragon. That's something very useful to know. We'll be sure and return here on the way home. If I fail in my siege of Ba Sing Se, he will make a decent face saver for my career. I thought dragons were extinct till now."

"Shall we land and let you have a closer look?"

"No, Ba Sing Se is calling my name. I want to live out my dream."

Another commercial break.J

Aang looked at his tea cup sadly. "I'd heard about the dragon." he said. "Zuko told me that you lied saying you had killed the last dragon in order to stop people from hunting them. But I'd never heard all that stuff about Lu Ten." The avatar looked around at the many people now crowding the Jasmine Dragon. "I was born a hundred years ago, before the war started. I used to visit my friend Kuzon in the fire nation. We got in and out of a lot of trouble together. I once asked Zuko if he thought we could have been friends if he'd lived back then. At that time he seemed to disagree, though things have obviously changed since. But I think your son sounds like someone I could have been friends with even if I had gotten out of the ice burg just in time to meet him. I wish I could have."

"You have no idea how much it means for me to hear you say that." The Dragon of the West sipped his tea.

The young captain practiced his katas every day, as his father watched on. He always improved in form and strength, but his fire never burned any more intensely for it. Iroh even began to tire of it.

"Son." he said one day after the captain had finished. "Relax a little. Ba Sing Se is made of stone, and we have enough fire benders to melt a whole right through it. There is no reason to fear defeat."

The captain only smiled. "It is the one who does not fear defeat who has the most reason to."

That was Iroh's own wisdom shot back at him from an earlier occasion. The general laughed. "Very well, keep practicing. But be sure you don't wear yourself out. No reason to spoil your appetite for fire bending."

"When my appetite for fire bending wears thin, I'll practice with my sword. And when I no longer hunger after that, I'll see if I can't get the cook to bring us some roast duck-goose."

"Ah, you know how much I love roast duck."

The fire nation army disembarked when the time came, and marched overland to Ba Sing Se. The city was ready for them, standing with its high walls practically begging to be taken, but with thousands of earth kingdom soldiers standing on top of it. The spears sticking up from the wall looked like a vast forest in the distance.

For months they laid siege to it, their magnificent force fully surrounding it. As Lu Ten had predicted, Zuko's birthday came and went. He sent his cousin a terra cotta toy soldier with enough time for it to reach home before the special occasion, and sent letters to that whole branch of the family.

_Dear Aunt Ursa,_

_I can't begin to explain how much I miss palace cooking already. The occasional roast duck is all that remains of the higher cuisine. It is as though these army cooks don't know how to properly nourish a young soldier, and I feel sorry for all the boys out here who don't even have the benefit of being the general's son. Father and his royal guard, and I and mine eat better every night that any other soldier out here, and even that isn't very helpful. Father has even lost some weight._

_How is palace life? I imagine Uncle is doing well, though I wouldn't ask him personally. I hope he gets to lighten up and actually enjoy himself once in a while. This is no less than what I wish for all of you there at home, but I think I want it for him most of all. Is Grandfather doing well? And your children, how are they? I remember Zuko saying he didn't want me to go. You may feel free to assure him I'll be back safe and sound. Father even joked about being back before his birthday, but with the way the earth kingdom has been fighting back lately…I don't think we'll have even broken the outer wall by then._

_Always with love, Lu Ten._

_Dear Uncle,_

_Why do you never write? It may seem a little odd for you to read this coming from me, but I have actually really missed you. I remember you teaching me and Zuko how to fire bend, and I've actually been using the technique you taught me a lot lately. The one I was able to learn that is. Father is still trying to teach me to bend lighting, but I still can't. I guess I care too much, but is that really a bad thing?_

_P.S._

_Please ease up the pressure on Zuko a little. How can he clear his mind of emotion when you create the perfect environment for frustration and fear to grow. I'm sure he'd get it eventually if you would only believe in him._

_With love, Lu Ten._

_Hail, Fire Lord Azulon, and honored grandfather._

_The siege goes well, in that it has yet to fail. Every other fire nation force that has ever tried to breach the walls of Ba Sing Se has failed miserably, but at this point, even if we do fail it will be with honor. Father is optimistic. I look forward to seeing you when victory is yours._

_With all the respect of a thousand subjects, the young captain, your grandson._

_To my dearly beloved cousin Azula,_

_Hey, guess what you adorable little monster. Your uncle and I are winning the siege easily, but I bet that if you were here we'd already be through the walls. Rumor has it your flames recently turned blue. That's my girl._

_Father keeps reverting to his old idea of sending you a doll for your birthday, and I keep reminding him how much you hate them. But oh well, even if you don't get anything really cool for your birthday, I know you'll have fun burning it._

_Love you, Lu Ten._

_To the brave young soldier,_

_Hey there little buddy. Enclosed in this parcel is your birthday gift. Let me know how you like it._

_Keep practicing your fire bending. I have kept up, and I think I'm getting better. Father says so, and so do many other soldiers here._

_Father joked before we left that maybe we'd be done at Ba Sing Se before your birthday, but obviously it didn't happen. Sorry kiddo. Much as I miss you, I have to stay here at the front. There's no way to be a hero without fighting._

_Unfortunately, it looks like the war will take a long time. Much longer than we had thought. But take heart. The worst thing that could happen is that we'll still be here by the time you're ready to go to war, and then we can fight side by side and I'll be there for your first Agni Kai, just like I promised._

_I love you, little soldier. Lu Ten._


	2. Yin and Yang

Water

Earth

Fire

Air

Long ago, the four nations lived in peace and harmony, but all that changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new avatar, an air bender named Aang, and although his air bending skills were great, he had a long way to go before he was ready to save anyone. But I believed in him right up to the day Aang saved the world.

* * *

Previously, on Avatar:

* * *

"Hello Aang, I'm glad to see you again. You don't come to see me often enough."

"Sorry." the monk landed on the back of a chair and balanced there perfectly,

* * *

Aang's expression turned somber, and he bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I never knew your son. He must have been a great man."

"You just want a good story, don't you?"

"A good story from a good friend. And, I think you might benefit from getting it off your chest."

* * *

Lu Ten sent letters to his entire family back in the fire nation.

_I love you, little soldier. Lu Ten._

* * *

Book 3, Fire.

Chapter 23, Yin and Yang

* * *

The Jasmine dragon was bustling with customers as usual. Aang and Iroh sipped their tea as they played the shop owner's favorite game.

The tea master shoved his lotus tile into position. "I think I've just about got you with that move." he said.

Aang looked at the board. "I don't know where you got that idea, but…" then he saw what the old general had been trying to do. "Oh, very sneaky. I see what you're trying to do. Who would have thought that such an insignificant tile would be so important?"

"I would." Iroh sipped his tea happily, then reflected on a past date with a sad expression on his face. "It was actually my son who first taught me of its significance. You see, many people misunderstand its significance, but if you know the lotus gambit, it can be central to your strategy. And the low esteem it receives from most players makes for a great surprise attack."

"I can't believe you just did that." General Iroh glared down at the Pai Sho board, pretending to be angry. His son had just made a brilliant move.

Lu Ten smiled, and sipped his tea. Chive tea this time. "You see father, you, like most people, misunderstand its importance. The lotus gambit is an important strategy for anyone to learn if he wished to become a master of Pai Sho. Even I didn't know it for many long years, but then just the other day I was playing with one of the men from the eighteenth division. Unused to having my butt kicked at it by anyone but you, I was shocked when he defeated me. And after that he told me about its significance. He showed me how to use the lotus gambit, and now I am poised to…" he trailed off as his father made another move. After they stared at the board for a few more minutes, he continued. "get my butt kicked yet again."

The siege wore on and on, for more than five hundred days, during which time Lu Ten and his royal guard hammered away at the earth kingdom's defenses. His fire bending continued to improve, as did his work with a sword.

His aunt Ursa wrote back, as did Zuko, and General Iroh read to his son a portion of a letter from the fire lord thanking Lu Ten for writing to him. It seemed that Zuko loved his present, and things were moving along swimmingly for the family. Lu Ten knew that meant that no one had been killed yet.

Azula and Ozai did not return his correspondence.

Then Iroh did indeed send Azula a doll for her birthday, and Lu Ten made sure to include a short letter with his father's gift.

_My dear favorite little monster,_

_I did try to persuade my father to get you something else. Sorry. I know you will get some fun out of it._

_Much love, Lu Ten._

For his own birthday, Lu Ten was surprised to receive a gift from his family. His aunt had sent him a beautiful fire nation fan, which could be used to cool his sweaty body on hot days, or to fight earth kingdom soldiers. Zuko sent a picture he had painted of the two of them fire bending. Azula sent a pile of ashes, and a note that said _Thanks for trying._

The biggest surprise of all was what his uncle sent him. It was a pair of antique broadswords that had belonged to Fire Lord Sozin.

_Esteemed nephew,_

_These swords once belonged to your great grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin. He was a powerful fire bender, but he knew a day might come when he would be forced to fight without his bending. For such an occasion, he carried these two blades. They were with him when he opened war against the earth kingdom, and they were his companions when he wiped out the air nomads, and not a few of them were claimed by their deadly blades. Use them well, left and right, and you will be unstoppable._

_I will try to give Zuko another chance to learn the cold-blooded fire. There are few words to describe how proud of him I would be if he learned it. All my misgivings about him would be forgiven._

_Your loving uncle, Prince Ozai._

When Iroh saw the letter, he scoffed. "My brother has completely missed the point." he said. "He doesn't know at all what the broad swords are about."

"What are they about then, Father?"

"Yin and Yang. They symbolize light and dark, good and evil. Any two opposites. Earth and air, fire and water. The dual broad sword is about learning to use more than one idea and go about things from more than one direction. If you draw wisdom from only one source, it becomes stale and brittle. In order to retain healthy wisdom, you must learn what can be taught not only from your own friends and family, but from other places as well. We are here at the front line, and in a perfect place to observe how the earth benders fight, and what gives them strength. Those broad swords can teach you a lot about yourself, and as usual all your uncle cares about is the power in them. How typical."

And then the war dragged on some more. Lu Ten learned very well how to use the broad swords, and sparred daily with his men. In time he grew to love them, but however hard he tried, there was one thing he could not seem to manage. He could not sheath them correctly. Every strike imaginable he could deal out with a flourish of judgment, but he still couldn't seem to get them to go down into their sheath when he was done. But it was an easy problem to remedy, and his father said that on the battle field it would matter little in comparison with how well he could use them. He took to wearing them at his side when he went into battle, with his old tai chi sword strapped across his back. They had become a part of his character.

The days passed, and soon it became a year since they had arrived.

For Zuko's birthday that year, Lu Ten sent his cousin a messenger hawk, which was to remain his even after it delivered the boy's birthday message. In the following months, he sent a large glowing green gem from near lake Laogai to Azula for her birthday.

_Dear Azula,_

_I was hoping to find a blue one in memory of your blue flames, but I'm afraid this green one was all that was available. You're a hard person to find a gift for, but that made it all the more rewarding when I finally found something for you. I hope you like it, but I won't be offended if you don't._

_As always, you have my love, my little monster. Cousin Lu Ten._

The fire nation army built high towers to reach the height of the wall, and pushed them into place using fire bending and hydraulics. Most were shot down by earth benders before they reached the wall, but a few got there. Two entire divisions were on the wall before Lu Ten finally received word of it.

"Tell my guards to assemble." he said. "Today is the day we will one day look back on and remember when the fire nation finally conquered the unconquerable walls of Ba Sing Se, and I will not have it written that I missed it."

* * *

"He was wrong, of course." said Iroh, as he refilled Aang's cup with a new flavor of tea. "Ba Sing Se did not fall that day. But he did learn a lot, and that was the day he picked up something that is still one of Zuko's most treasured possessions."

Commercial break

Lu Ten stood ready, waiting for the door of the siege tower to open. His armor was all in place, his swords ready to taste flesh. His imperial fire bender guards stood with him, and on the floor beneath them were 100 armed weapon masters of the fire nation.

"Men, it has been at least as great an honor for me to serve with you, as it has for you to serve with me. If anything, I have benefited the more from your presence by my side. If I die today, I will be glad to do so with such brave men around me." He stared at the door, waiting breathlessly for it to fall. The trip to the wall had been agonizing. They had climbed to the top of a tower and been forced to wait while it was moved by hydraulic power to the wall over rough terrain. Now, it would soon be over. "You are the pride my arsenal. The pride of my father. And you are the pride of all the fire nation. Keep the women back home proud of you, let today be the day on which we outdo all previous days!"

The benders chanted rhythmically in appreciation of his speech. The men below could not see him, but they could hear him. And he could hear them. They cheered, and gripped their pole weapons firmly.

Then the dam broke, and the earth benders on the wall greeted them with a hail of stones. The fire benders in the front line, including Lu Ten, cast out a gigantic wall of flame, blocking the rocks and burning many of the soldiers on the wall. Then they filed out, burning as they went. Swords flashed, and fire clashed against earth. Death was everywhere.

The captain slashed everywhere, up, down and crossways with his Tai Chi sword, rending limbs and necks at every pass. Where his sword would not do the trick, a blast of fire sufficed, and his men quickly reached the far edge of the wall. The breach grew larger, and more men died. More than 200 imperial fire benders had flooded out of the tower when the door fell, and most of them were still left. After five minutes, most of the some 500 earth kingdom troops that had met them, weren't. As his fire benders and weapon masters finished the last members of the unit, Lu Ten moved in on the last earth kingdom soldier in the breach, an earth bender who was still standing. He panted a little, and sweat glistened on his brow, but he stood strong, bringing up large disks of stone from the wall and casting them at fire benders. Most were unlucky.

Lu Ten dodged an attack from him, which hit a fire bender behind him. "Give up!" he shouted.

The answer was another stone disk. The man could not be more than a few years past twenty. Not much older than Lu Ten.

"Benders, surround him!" the captain ordered. Obediently, the men moved to do so. The earth bender glared at the fire benders, and they glared back. Then the man closed his eyes and raised his arms.

"Stop him!" shouted Lu Ten, but he was too late. The earth bender brought his arms down, and a vast chasm opened under the feet of the men Lu Ten commanded, dropping them thousands of feet into the wall, and leaving a ring shaped moat around him and the fire prince.

Lu Ten heard the screams of his dying men, and knew he had done the wrong thing in attempting to show this man mercy. He would neither accept it, nor show any in return.

Few fire benders were left now. Only a select few outside the ring that had not moved so quickly to obey their leader's command. _And so I am left with only the disloyal under my command._ he thought. Then, hearing a noise, he looked up to see many more hundreds of earth kingdom soldiers attacking his men from the flanks. "See to them!" he ordered. "I'll handle this one."

In the midst of the battle raging around them, the two opposing benders watched each other, and listened to one another's breathing, or what they could catch of it in between the noises of struggle.

_In order to retain healthy wisdom, you must learn what can be taught not only from your own friends and family, but from other places as well. We are here at the front line, and in a perfect place to observe how the earth benders fight, and what gives them strength._

_Ok,_ thought Lu Ten, _let's see what you've got._

The two stared at each other, long and hard. Nothing happened. _What's he waiting for?_ Lu Ten wondered. And then it struck him. _He's waiting for me to go first. He wants to see what I do, and block it, probably with brute force. If I want to beat him, I have to trick him. It'll be almost impossible to lead him into a trap, so what do I do? I know, I'll give him exactly what he wants, and then do something he doesn't expect. He's brave and strong, most likely depending on honor to be his guide. He wants me to make the first move._ He looked at the chasm around them. _He's a very powerful earth bender. Power will be my foe in this fight. I must rely primarily on speed and accuracy._

The fire bender took a stance, and sheathed his sword.

"Don't you want to fight me?" the defender of the walls asked.

"I expect you to surrender. You can die, and lose the city, or you can live and lose the city. It's your choice."

"We've been through this. I think we both know I won't give in!" he raised his arms for an earth bending attack.

_Good, I've gotten him out of his comfort zone. Now he's going to make the first move. I've won the verbal challenge, now lets see about the bending._ Lu Ten leapt away from his spot just as the earth bender brought his arms down. The ground where the captain had been standing gave way and sank at least two feet into the ground. Lu Ten scurried to the edge of the precipice and shot out a powerful burst of fire at his opponent. Then he almost lost his balance as he felt the earth shifting beneath him, and saw the earth bender running along the edge toward where he had been at the start of his burst, but he didn't stop. His flame intensified as he grew more confident, and at last the other bender was forced to throw up an earth shield to protect himself. Lu Ten drew his sword again and charged the man, his feet padding over the cool grey stone. His fire bending had scorched and blackened the stone where the earth bender was now, and he didn't look forward to stepping on it. But not long after he started running for his opponent, the ground beneath his foot shot up a foot or two, and he fell backward.

He stood to his feet, awkwardly, and brushed away some dirt from his armor. Then he looked around at what had happened to the place, and he couldn't help but laugh. He raised his right arm and scorched the top of the mound before him, and looked at his enemy, still chuckling. "Yin yang." he said happily.

The earth bender was not amused.

"Right." said the captain, and leapt to attack again.

For several more minutes, the two battered away at each other with fire and stone, till at last Lu Ten came crashing down on his enemy from the air, his Tai Chi sword ripping all the way through the man's shoulder and laying him out on the ground with only his right arm intact.

The young captain stepped over him, preparing to strike the final blow. "You just have no idea. No idea how to pick your battles." he swung his blade down, but the man's right hand had slipped a knife out of his robe, and he blocked most of the blow's force. The sword still lodged in his breast, severing cloth and armor alike, most likely penetrating his right lung, but it did not reach his spine.

Scowling, Lu Ten grasped the knife and wrenched it from the man's hand. "No idea when to give up…" his eyes fell on the blade, and read the inscription on it. "…without a fight."

"Never." was the last word the earth bender spoke, before the captain cut his throat.

"You could have had mercy at any time, but no, you sealed your fate for the worse when you killed my men, and then you still spat on my mercy. This is the only way to end a struggle when you refuse to lose." Lu Ten wept openly. He cried for his men, and he wept for his innocence. He had killed many men before, but never like this. It could as easily have been a relative he had killed, in stead of a perfect stranger. The long fight before hand had no bearing on what he had done afterward. "I hope this isn't the moment that makes me a hero." he said, before looking away from the sight of his deed.

The sight that greeted him was one to strike horror into his very bones. He was the only fire nation soldier left on that part of the wall.

Commercial break.

Lu Ten looked around at the numerous earth kingdom soldiers on the wall around him. The only thing that separated them from him was the wide chasm that his dead opponent had made. Fortunately, there did not look to be many earth benders among them.

One threw a spear at him, but it missed. He picked it up from where it had landed and hurled it back at them. _I can't fight them all._ He though. Then his eyes returned to the siege tower by which he had arrived at the wall. Without interruption it would be only a short few steps from the edge of the ring. But with all the soldiers on the wall, it would be a terrifying ten minutes of hard fighting.

His eyes fell on the yin yang he and the earth bender had made. Thinking about his father's advice, he sheathed his Tai Chi sword and drew the two broad swords. He put the earth kingdom knife in his pocket, promising himself to send it to Zuko later.

What could one soldier do against so many enemies? He was good, he was very good. But how good was he? He needed the cold blooded fire, but he still couldn't summon it…couldn't he?

His eyes came again to the yin yang on the top of the wall. He had failed to let go of enough of his emotion before, never being able to accept that in order to shoot lightning he would have to release every strand of feeling from his heart. But was that not what he had had to do to kill the earth bender?

Yin.

Yang.

Perhaps it was not so much the emptiness of emotion that was necessary, as the equal portions of light and darkness. _Everything in moderation._ He looked back at the lifeless body of the man he had killed. _It was not right to kill, but neither was it wrong. This is war, and sometime unpleasant things have to be done. I am not proud of what I did, but neither am I ashamed._

He looked back at the men on the other side of the ring. His emotions were balanced. His shame balanced by his acceptance. He sheathed the broad swords perfectly for the first time, raised his hand, index and middle fingers extended, and released not his emotion, but his intention. The result was a perfect arch of white lightning. It cut through hundreds of soldiers, searing flesh and catching in metal weapons. Screams of terror erupted from the crowd of earth kingdom soldiers. A small grin came to his lips, but not much of one. _Everything in moderation._


	3. Hero

Hey, it's me. Sorry for falling behind a day or two on writing this. I'm afraid it's not as good as the last chapter I wrote, but this is what came out. Thank you for reading, please review.

* * *

Water

Earth

Fire

Air

Long ago, the four nations lived in peace and harmony, but all that changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new avatar, an air bender named Aang, and although his air bending skills were great, he had a long way to go before he was ready to save anyone. But I believed in him right up to the day Aang saved the world.

* * *

Previously, on Avatar:

* * *

Aang's expression turned somber, and he bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I never knew your son. He must have been a great man."

* * *

"You just want a good story, don't you?"

* * *

"Ever since I lost my son…" Iroh turned away from his nephew, tears coming to his eyes.

"Uncle, you don't have to say it."

"I think of you as my own."

* * *

"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow." Sang Iroh, tears streaming down his cheeks. The tree was tall and strong, and the sketch of his son still looked as though it had been drawn a mere day ago. It was a beautiful day. "Happy birthday, son." said Iroh.

* * *

Book 3, Fire.

Chapter 24, Hero

* * *

Fighting the earth kingdom soldiers and scattering them was nothing hard. It was finding a way off the island that proved the difficulty, but he managed, using fire bending to propel him across the gap.

The city did not fall that day, nor did it for many days afterward, but Lu Ten and General Iroh remained hopeful and pressed on. He was particularly joyful when his son told him about his ability to bend lightning, and agreed to replace his royal guard immediately. No one could truly replace them of course, but the prince would need someone to protect him. Then the two left the war tent, and Lu Ten gave his father a demonstration of his new ability.

The two sent a care package back to the fire nation, with a letter to their family, and presents for the cousins. For Zuko, the knife Lu Ten had taken, and for Azula, despite the captains attempts to dissuade his father, yet another doll.

The siege dragged on and on. The army made attempt after attempt to breach the walls, but nothing got through. On the 578'th day of the siege, Lu Ten decided to write home and tell his family about his lightning bending. He sat down at his desk and wrote, _Dear Uncle Ozai and Aunt Ursa,_

_I am happy to announce that I am now capable of bending lightning. Uncle, I know this means a lot especially to you, seeing as you tried to teach me how. I remembered what you said, and thought of yin and yang energy like you said, and the next thing I knew I'd leveled a swath of earth kingdom soldiers. Thank you very much, I think your teaching may have saved my life that day. And thank you very much for the broad swords, they have also been very useful._

_Azula,_

_I apologize profusely that I allowed Father to send you another doll. As usual I tried. If this war is ever over, I'll bring you the best gown in your size to be found in all of Ba Sing Se, or a rare necklace, or a spear that belonged to a famous earth king or some such thing. Whatever I bring you, I'll try to make sure you like it._

_Zuko,_

_I managed to bend lightning a few weeks ago. It's just how your father said. Your mind must be clear, and your emotions must be balanced. You must be willing to do anything at all. Anything. But remember to take it all in moderation._

_With much love for all of you, Lu Ten._

He sent the message with happiness in his heart. He could feel in his bones that the siege would soon be over.

For the next few days, the fire nation army fought the Dai Lee, the highest order of agents the earth kingdom possessed. Iroh said that meant they were getting close to exhausting the city's resources.

On the 589'th day, the general announced a new plan in his war tent.

"We have been battering away at Ba Sing Se for well over a year now, and it has withstood everything we have thrown at it. But at a cost. They are beginning to wear thing. Now, the time has come to break through their great wall and take the city for good. I plan to smash a hole in their wall that will leave them open to our attack for as long as we need it to. We have tried ladders and towers to get over it, and we have tried digging tunnels under it, and all this because we did not dare to assault it directly. Our catapults can do nothing against it, and our fire benders have been struck down at great distance any time we tried to melt our way through. But now their supply of earth benders wears thin, and if they are properly distracted we can launch an attack that will deliver a knock out punch. In a siege, the object is to send so many distractions against the enemy for him to defend against them, and then deliver the real attack." The general pointed a chop stick from his noodle bowl at the map on the table. "Here, on the city's west side, we will begin the attack with towers and tunnels simultaneously"

One of the military advisors stood, hesitantly.

"Yes, General Du?" asked Iroh.

"Sir, the tunnels on the west side have all caved in. It was a poor idea to begin with, tunneling under the wall of a city populated with earth benders."

"I know, but we only need them to think that we intend to use it as an attack. All we need is to occupy them, and so I have decided to have the earth kingdom prisoners go to work in these tunnels rather than risk our own men. Is that all?"

"Yes sir, thank you for clarifying."

"Good. I hope you won't mind leading the soldiers in the towers on that side?"

"It will be an honor to lead my men into battle for you again. May it be the last time we need to do so in Ba Sing Se."

"Excellent. Now, the Western attack will begin at sunrise. When we receive a hawk stating that the defenders are busily repulsing our men, the Eastern attack will commence, with the towers and ladders there. Not all of them are in the best repair, but we'll take a few days to fix that.

On the North side of the city, as you know, we have been constructing a huge ramp with which to breach the wall, but now it will rather serve as a distraction, along with several contingents of men with ladders and towers. Once the defenders are busy fighting on one part of the wall, the general in charge of that section must send word to the next division, which will immediately begin its attack. When the Northern division has begun its attack, General Shen, who will be leading the assault," Shen nodded his acceptance of his mission, "will send a hawk to me. I will wait a few minutes for the earth kingdom soldiers to get good and settled in their defenses. Then I'll give the order for the final attack to be launched here in the south. When I do, we'll move quickly and strike hard with the secret weapon."

The other generals leaned in expectantly to hear what the secret weapon was.

"The captured earth benders will be made to attack their own wall, or face death and torture. And when they have brought it down, our fire benders will be through the gap, led by my brave son Lu Ten, and then the city will be at our feet."

The generals around the table began to smile as they saw their superior's plan. They had been attempting many such things throughout the nearly two year period they had been there, but this was by far the best organized and most hopeful attempt that had been proposed as yet. The earth benders were a new addition to their arsenal, only having been recently captured.

Lu Ten, seated at the back of the table stood to his feet. "Father," he said, "with all due respect, there is some insight I would like to add to this plan of yours."

"Go ahead. Good advice should be welcome at all times."

"I have been on the wall before, as have a few of our men, but I am most likely the only one who has seen what lies beyond it. After I cleared it of soldiers, I looked past the inward battlements and beheld the inside of the city."

"And?"

"It was as though I had fallen into a pool for expecting to step upon the ice. It was bleak and bare of human life. Fertile ground, with grass and trees, but more or less uninhabited. And on the other side of this plane, I thought I could see something made of stone. Yet another wall like this one, but smaller. And for all we know the benders of the earth kingdom may have built ring within ring of such walls right to the very center. We may well take the outer wall with this new plan of yours, but I foresee a long drawn out struggle if we wish to take the inner one as well."

Iroh's shoulders slumped. "Another wall?" he said. "These earth benders are wily folks, aren't they? But the journey of numerous walls begins with the first one I suppose."

* * *

Commercial break

* * *

Siege of Ba Sing Se, day number 599

Lu Ten waited with his fire benders for the hawk he knew his father would send any moment. He hoped he and his 700 hundred soldiers, as well as his personal guard of fifty imperial fire benders had not been spotted hiding in the rocks. The earth benders sweated in the morning desert heat, knowing they would be forced to betray their own city. Dawn had come and gone almost half an hour ago. And just as expected, right on time, in came a hawk.

_Dear Son, the time to strike is now. Go forward to victory. I will be along shortly with my own men to back you up._

Lu Ten smiled, and turned to his scribe. His eyes fell on the paper his message would be written on, and he raised an eyebrow. The scribe had drawn a sketch of the captain's face. Lu Ten looked inquisitively at the man.

"I had nothing better to do." he said, and the captain chuckled.

"Pen this to my father. _To General Iroh, I will see you when victory is attained. Your loyal son, Lu Ten._"

"Onward!" the captain shouted, pointing the way with his sword. The earth benders had thrown open the wall, and stood ready beside their guards in case earth benders on the inside were to try to raise it again.

The fire nation soldiers leapt from their hiding places and rushed onward like a tide of red sea water. They rushed up the mounds of debris following their captain, and stopped in their tracks when he did the same.

Inside the breach, and looking very befuddled, but perfectly ready to fight, was a standing group of earth kingdom soldiers, most armed with spears.

"Don't just stand there!" shouted the earth kingdom commander. "Get them!" Then fire and earth clashed, and magma flowed.

Lu Ten and his fire benders dueled with the few earth benders in the breach and sprayed long arcs of fire demolishing hundreds of soldiers at a time, but soon the fire nation solders were so mixed with the earth kingdom's troops that they had to stop.

Chaos reigned for well over ten minutes. Then Lu Ten found a respite near the edge of the battle, and looked about him. On the opposite side of the breach, he saw just what he had hoped not to. A Dai Lee agent. It jabbed and struck with its flying stone fist hard enough to kill, and cast other stones about with ease, taking out fire nation soldiers as though he were a flame licking at moths.

Lu Ten gritted his teeth. He knew that where there was one Dai Lee agent, there were sure to be others.

A clear shot presented itself, and Lu Ten pointed his two fingers at the agent. A bolt of lightning shot out and struck the man in the chest, and when he fell he did not rise.

_Crack!_

The captain looked above his head, and saw the unthinkable. The very wall was crumbling, the debris tumbling toward him. He raised his arms and shot out a searing wave of flame, blasting the stones back up and onto the inside of the wall.

He took one last look at the fight, and knew it was hopeless. He had lost too many men. He was already the last fire bender in the breach. There was only one thing left to do.

"Retreat!" he shouted. "Retreat, or you're all dead. Pull back and regroup! Hold them on the outside of the wall till the general arrives!"

Hearing his cries, his men began to give ground, then to openly retreat, and finally they turned and ran. Then the captain screamed as he felt a pain in his right side. Looking down, he found a black-shafted arrow embedded in his ribs. He pulled the shaft from his flesh.

"My lord, are you alright?" Three soldiers approached him, seemingly oblivious to the hordes of earth kingdom troops behind them.

"I have been struck by an arrow. Get out of here. Now. I'll be along."

"They use poisoned arrows over there your majesty."

"Well there's nothing you can do for me, is there?" Lu Ten leapt forward and grasped the lead man's shoulder, throwing him away from the soldiers charging at them. "Leave!" he shouted, and shot off a burst of fire from his palms, enveloping the soldiers ahead of him. He turned his head to see if his men had followed his order.

Though grudgingly, they had.

The captain readied his Tai Chi sword for what he knew would be his last battle. He had to stave off the attackers until his men were all safe. He could not let them get through.

The earth kingdom men were still charging toward him, and he charged at them, sword raised. He cut in every direction imaginable, felling man after man. They fell before him like wheat before a scythe.

_Clink!_

His sword flew from his hand, and landed harmlessly on the ground.

Lu Ten threw a kick to off balance his attackers before drawing the broad swords. Yin and yang glided through air flesh and armor, laying waste the bodies of men who threatened his own soldiers, the only thing he had left to fight for. To live for.

For two minutes, poison ate away at his blood, and his swords ate away at the earth kingdom's numbers. There was another ten soldiers waiting for him every time he struck one down, but that did not slow him.

The sun is a beautiful body of the heavens, but throughout its entire life it has two moments when its shines the most brightly. When first it rises, and when it sets.

Lightning flashed from Lu Ten's finger tips bringing dozens of soldiers to their knees. They gave ground, slowly but surely. Step by step they moved toward the inner side of the wall, till at last Lu Ten was still in the breach, and his opponents were all inside the city, and there he could see the true number of them. There were too many for him to kill in whatever time he had left.

On glance over his shoulder told him that his men were safe. The it was time to die. He leapt forward, shooting lightning from his fingers and sword points down at the ground and electrifying many soldiers. He landed just inside the wall, his breath too weak to fight any more, his body too wracked by the poison of the arrow that had struck him, and now he had many, many more wounds than just that one.

The sun was still rising on Ba Sing Se, but at that moment one of the brightest suns in fire nation history was just setting.

* * *

Commercial break

* * *

"Noooo!" General Iroh screamed as he watched his son fall. He and his four hundred fire benders had just arrived.

Leaving his men, the general broke into a blind run for his son, fire waiting in his fingertips should he need it.

No one stood in his way, most of the earth kingdom soldiers stood with their mouths open wide, gawking at the deeds they had witnessed, and very glad to still be alive.

Iroh dove to the ground and grabbed his son in an embrace. "Lu Ten. Wake up boy. Wake up!" his eyes closed, and the fire bender cried.

"Father?" came the weakened voice of his son.

"Lu Ten, are you alright?"

"No father, but are my men?"

"From what I could see they were alright. What do you need? Can you walk?"

"It was…poisoned…Father," the boy's last words came in gasps. "Father, please…don't let…my passing…change your feelings toward…jasmine tea."

Then he was gone.

Iroh wanted to scream. To run, fight, hurt someone, or himself, but he couldn't. He could only weep. His son's joke told him to laugh, but his death told him to wale like a baby.

"Sir?"

The general looked up to see a captain of the earth kingdom staring down at him.

"What?"

"May I ask, what was your son's name?"

"His name is Lu Ten."

"I see." The man stepped away from the fire nation general, and signaled his own men. They drew their swords in unison. Pointing them skyward in a circle around the dead fire bender, they all chanted "Hail the hero, Lu Ten. Hail, the conqueror of Ba Sing Se!" Then they all bent their knees and leaned on their swords, their heads tipped downward in submission to Lu Ten.

"I don't understand." said the general. "He didn't conquer you."

The captain rose, sheathed his sword, and stepped closer to Iroh before bowing his head again. "Your son is the first fire nation soldier to ever breach the wall of Ba Sing Se. He is the first invader ever to break through our wall. He posed the impossible, did the undoable, destroyed the indestructible, and broke the spell of our city. In this war we have mourned the deaths of many heroes of the earth kingdom. Now, we mourn the death of the greatest hero of this war. Your son was a conqueror. Were he alive, I would offer my sword to him, but he is not. Will you accept it?" he pulled the sword and sheath from his belt and held them forward.

Iroh stared at the weapon through his tears. It seemed to glare at him.

"You must be very tired of fighting." he said at last.

"We are all tired o fighting."

"Keep your city. I dreamed long ago that I would conquer it, but never did I dream that the price of that conquest would be my son's life. I know it is too late now, but I will not take your city."

"Your son died to take it."

"My son died protecting his men. How can I tell those same men that they have to occupy a city that hates them? The fire nation has spread itself too thin, and if I were to accept your terms, we would be vulnerable on all sides. My men are as tired as you are of the war, and I think they want to go home and see their families again."

The man's eyes were full of understanding. "Then will you at least allow us to give your son a hero's burial?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I would prefer to have him buried in the fire nation, and I think he would prefer that too."

Thoughts of what had happened gripped Iroh from every direction in his mind, and every other minute another wave of realization struck him. He turned away and carried his son from the wall. He could not speak anymore.


	4. Leaves From the Vine

Finally, the last chapter is here, sorry for not getting it here sooner or doing a better job.

* * *

Water

Earth

Fire

Air

* * *

Long ago, the four nations lived in peace and harmony, but all that changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new avatar, an air bender named Aang, and although his air bending skills were great, he had a long way to go before he was ready to save anyone. But I believed in him right up to the day Aang saved the world.

* * *

Previously, on Avatar:

Admiral Zhao and General Iroh stood on the ship, discussing important business. "Yes, I've heard of your little foray into the spirit world."

* * *

"Ever since I lost my son…" Iroh turned away from his nephew, tears coming to his eyes.

"Uncle, you don't have to say it."

"I think of you as my own."

* * *

"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow." Sang Iroh, tears streaming down his cheeks. The tree was tall and strong, and the sketch of his son still looked as though it had been drawn a mere day ago. It was a beautiful day. "Happy birthday, son." said Iroh.

* * *

Book 3, Fire.

Chapter 25, Leaves from the vine

* * *

The next day, the general slept until almost noon. When he finally got out of bed, he went to the war room and called a meting.

Every war minister who entered bowed deeply and gave his condolences for Lu Ten.

When they were all seated, Iroh called them to order. "I was unable to survey our progress yesterday." he said. "How did the other attacks fare?"

The overall idea seemed to be that the other three attacks had gone very well, but not as well as Lu Ten's attempt had almost gone. None of the other groups had gained entrance into the city.

Iroh took a long draft of jasmine tea. He had already failed to follow his son's last advice, the drink had become one of his favorites already. But he imagined that his son had meant for him not to let it fall out of favor with him, and if this were the case then quite the opposite had occurred. Now every sip of it reminded the general of his son.

"I will not hide the truth from you, I have grown very tired of this war. I can feel the length of it in my bones, and I can see it in your eyes. And every night I realize what it is doing to our men. Yesterday was our best bet for the city. We were so confident that it would work that we neglected to form a backup plan, and now we are left without one. Does any of you with to continue with the siege?"

None of the generals raised his hand or spoke out. They all looked as though they agreed with their commanding officer.

"Yesterday was a blow to each of us. Lu Ten was an honored fire nation captain, and one of the bravest soldiers in the war. His death has taken away the will to fight from every man here who loves his own nation."

"Then I think it is time for us to give up the siege. I know there must be many fathers even now experiencing the grief that I feel, and I have no desire to cause the same to happen to more men. I want to give my son a proper burial, in his homeland."

* * *

Commercial break

* * *

Not one of the men objected to the idea of seeing home again. Everyone was tired of fighting, and they all felt their general's loss.

Tents were taken down, bags were packed, and ships were boarded. Late on the six hundredth day of the siege, the fire nation withdrew from the city. Not one soldier knew they had been victorious.

"General?" The helmsman seemed a bit hesitant.

"Yes?" asked Iroh.

"Not to question your intentions, but you seem to have plotted a course only half way home. Might I ask…why?"

"I want to find that dragon we saw on the way here. I need to do something. Anything really, but as I said before, killing it will be a very good face saver when I return home."

"Ah, I see."

Through the serpent's pass they passed without incident, and onward they went. Many of the soldiers were traveling by ship, but many were marching overland to a rendezvous point where they would board other ships.

Onward traveled the imperial ships, till they came to land where the dragon had been spotted.

"General Iroh, will you be needing assistance?" asked an imperial fire bender.

"No, I'll be just fine. Wait here with the ship, and I'll try not to be long."

Then he left the ship, and set out along the ancient road. It was similar to roads in the fire nation, but not identical.

Minutes dragged out to almost an hour, before he found a perfect imprint of a dragon foot in the soft earth. It was fairly fresh.

He continued on, and soot he came to a ruined city. He was surprised to find just how much its buildings resembled fire nation architecture.

He went through the streets, admiring the craftsmanship of them, until he came to a pyramid like temple at the city's heart.

At the top of the staircase, he found a door, with a red jewel above it.

He looked around. There seemed to be no one there.

Then something moved.

Iroh spun around, his keen hearing informing him before he was through with the motion that he was not alone. "Who's there?" he asked.

The shadows of the very city itself seemed to come alive, and soon he was surrounded.

"We are the ancient ones, the warriors of the sun!" shouted a booming voice.

"I am a father, who has recently lost his only child."

The sun warriors closed in on him. "And what do you seek here?" asked the voice.

"I seek a dragon. I need to feel like I am doing something worth while."

"Dragons are rare in this world, and not meant to be hunted. If you will meet one, you must pass its test of worthiness, and in order to do so you will need to surrender all ill intentions. You must be deemed worthy to learn the original secret of fire bending."

"So you know where one is?"

A bulky man stepped forward. He was most likely the one who had spoken. "Do you want to meet him?" he asked.

"What would I gain by meeting a dragon?"

"If you do not want anything from him, why did you come looking for him?"

"Because I have just abandoned something that was very valuable to my career, and I need the fame that comes only slaying a dragon to boost it again."

That seemed to have a most negative affect on the warriors about him. They all fell to arguing, mostly over whether or not to kill him.

One angrily shot a fireball at him, but he shoved it away with his own bending. Then the warriors stopped their arguments and stared. Of course, most dragon hunters had been fire benders, but Iroh's fire bending had somehow escaped their notice.

At last, the one who had spoken before did so again. "We can never allow you or anyone else to see a dragon, if he intends it harm. But if you will agree not to do so, we will allow you meet one and discuss fire bending."

Another argument exploded then. It seemed that Iroh's hosts could not agree on whether this was appropriate for him. When it settled down a little, the warrior approached him again. "I'm sorry, but we cannot agree. If you wish to meet a dragon, then you must wait in the chamber of the dragon dance, which also happens to be one of our best booby traps, for us to reach a final decision."

Iroh thought long and hard. Finally, he said "To learn fire bending from a dragon is surely the most coveted chance in a lifetime of any fire bender. I will wait for you, and I will promise not to harm him."

* * *

The chamber of the dancing dragons was dark and a bit creepy. At first, Iroh had wondered if the dragon might waiting inside for him, but after close investigation throughout the room, he found no living dragon. The only dragons in the room were a long circular pattern of statues, depicting a complex dance.

Iroh stared up at them. His loss was heavy on his heart, and when he wasn't thinking about it he was thinking about his ship, and wondering if the crew would sail on without a failure such as himself, or if they would patiently wait for him. He feared they would not wait, for it was already past the time at which he had said he would return.

He could do little in the cavern. He had been there well over an hour, and was becoming bored. He felt as though he should be doing something, anything to alleviate his pain. He thought about the dragon, and just for a moment he felt a tiny surge of hope in his veins, but then it was gone. The strange warriors who had captured him would probably not allow him to meet it.

Rolling his neck to loosen its joints, he decided to practice his fire bending. He might as well.

After several minutes of flying flames, Iroh noted the pattern of the dragons, and realization crashed over him like a wave. The dragons weren't dancing, they were bending.

He walked to the front of the oval and took the stance of the first dragon. Performing the dance with the dragons, he found that his bending increased a little in strength, and even more so when his position was parallel to that of the dragon he mimicked.

When he finished the dance, and huge golden artifact rose up out of the ground. Iroh smiled. That had to be the booby trap the warriors had spoken of. Only a fool would have touched it.

He did the dance again, several times.

* * *

"The masters have granted you an audience." said the warrior when he returned. Then his eyes fell on the lump of gold. "I see you remembered my warning about the booby trap."

* * *

The fire nation general stood at the top of the steps, staring at one of the caves he saw. There were two. Two caves, and possibly two dragons. The warrior had said masters, plural, so there might be more than one. Or did masters refer to the elders of the tribe?

His question was answered when a red and a blue dragon erupted from their respective caves. Iroh hugged the flame he had been given close to his body (but not close enough to burn him) as he watched them dance. Then a thought came to him and, leaving his flame to burn in the air where it was, he joined the dragons in their dance.

As the masters finished, they spat forth two jets of fire into the air. They twisted, and intertwined about one another, spiraling upward as far as the eye could see.

Iroh stared at the spectacle with his mouth open. In the pillar of flame around him he could see everything about fire, and about life. About his own life. He saw his childhood, his teenaged years. He saw his wife, and he saw Lu Ten.

Briefly, grief overtook him again, and he felt himself slipping away. He sank to the ground, and curling his legs beneath him, he remained rigid as if made of stone.

As the pillar of fire dwindled and left, the dragons looked at their guest. His eyes glowed a bluish grey.

"Will he be alright?" asked the blue one.

"Yes, he'll be fine." said the other. "We just need to give him some space, that's all."

* * *

Iroh looked about himself, searching for something to tell him where he was.

Nearby some kind of little animal was chirping happily as it groomed its voluminous tail.

"Excuse me," he said, though he knew it was foolish to speak to animals. "Do you know where I am?"

"You're right there of course!" said the disgruntled animal, and disgustedly ran into the dark misty forest around them.

Iroh blinked. "Apparently, I'm in the spirit world." he said. He threw a punch, intending to send out a small ball of flame, but nothing happened. "Yup, that pretty much proves it." A thought struck him. _I wonder if Lu Ten is here?_ He cast about himself for any living creature. There was no one. "Hello out there!" he called. "Is anyone there? Lu Ten?"

A rustling in the trees about Iroh unsettled him.

"And who, pray tell, are you?"

Iroh spun around to find a man standing beside him. He was tall and lean. He wore a domed hat on his head which covered almost all of his face, and his clothes were loose fitting and dark colored.

"I am Iroh of the fire nation. Who are you?"

"I am Ji, a spirit here."

"Ah. And may I ask what is your specialty?"

"I am a spirit of truth."

"Oh." the spirit's voice unnerved Iroh. It was deep and rumbling, unbefitting a man. "And what do you do to people who tell lies?"

"If anyone lies to me, he is unable to use the words of his lie ever again, in this world, or the physical one."

That was a frightening concept. "Is it not so that people often lie in small everyday speech?"

"It is. A man who says he feels alright, when he really means that his stomach ails him, will have no desire to speak with me."

Vaguely, a plan formed in Iroh's mind. _Just keep asking him questions then,_ he told himself. "Do you know where my son is, Ji?"

"Your son, Lu Ten is no more. But his spirit is in this realm. He has not yet chosen to be reborn. He is waiting for you, for he knew you would come."

"Which way would I go to find him?"

The spirit pointed. "Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty carrying your belly. He'll be there."

Iroh stared into the clearing. As promised, there was his son, meditating.

"Father?" he said, looking up.

The general ran to his son and the two embraced. "How's the tea?" asked Lu Ten.

"I'm afraid it has become one of my favorites, if you mean jasmine."

"Excellent." the captain sat back down on the misty forest floor. "I knew you would come, but I sense that Ji has already told you. I hope you did not lie to him?"

"No, he warned me of his power, and I had no desire to lie even if he had not told me."

"Good. General, I wanted to tell you, I think no one ever had a better father."

"That is high praise." Iroh sat beside his son. His emotions told him to do so many things, but he knew that this would be the last time his son and he ever spoke, and he had to enjoy it while it lasted and pay attention to every detail.

"Father, while I have been here I been thinking, and meditating, and I have seen many things. I have foreseen many things. That is how I knew you were coming. I knew that the dragons would find you worthy, and that when they showed you the essence of fire, you would see me in it and slip into the spirit world. And I have seen some other things as well. I paid special attention to little Zuko, and Azula."

"And?"

"They worry me. I have seen a terrible turmoil in Zuko's future, and I believe that in time Azula's more successful attempt to keep a reign on the vicious political atmosphere of the fire nation will eventually cause her to lose her sanity. Father, I knew when I saw these things that I had to wait here for you. I had to tell you about them. Zuko will walk a razor's edge in the future, and if you do not walk it with him he will fall to his doom, and the doom of all."

"What then must I do? How can I prevent him from falling?"

"You must let your grief for my passing flow through you and release it. Death is not an end, but the beginning of a new cycle. I will live again. When we are done here, we will both return to the world of the living, you to the fire nation, and I to…somewhere I have foreseen. Do not let my passing grieve you so much that you cannot see what else there is in this world. You must be there as a crutch for Zuko. You must always be there for him. And if you can help it, please be kind to Azula as well."

Iroh nodded. Somehow the opportunity to say goodbye to his son properly was already making him feel a bit better. "Anything else?"

"Do you still have my broad swords?"

"Yes, they are one of my prized possessions now. But I could not find your Tai Chi sword."

"That is alright. Please, give the swords to Zuko when you return home. His father gave them to me anyway, as you know. They should be his, and they will serve him well at least once in the days to come. I'm afraid that is all I can say. It grows late, and your crew is wondering where you are. And also, I am curious to discover the anew, from the perspective of a child. I hope some of your wisdom will follow me in the next life."

"I do too. And I hope you are safe. I will look after Zuko."

* * *

Commercial break

* * *

The Jasmine Dragon bustled with people now, full of customers. Aang smiled. At least the story had a somewhat happy ending.

"You know the rest of the story I suppose?" Iroh asked as he readied a customer's order.

"Yes, I know. You were there for Zuko, and in no small way, the war ended so well only because of you. You taught Zuko, who taught me."

"And he used those broad swords when he rescued you from Zhao. He always loved those swords, right from the moment I gave them to him." The old man carried away a tray of cups.

Aang closed his eyes and meditated for a moment. It took a lot of effort, and more time than he'd expected, but in time he found, in his mind, the place where Lu Ten had fallen by the outer wall. The arrow tattoo on his head glowed silver for a moment, and then he opened his eyes. His finding was a great surprise to him, but not an unwelcome one. Using his connection to the spirit world to locate Lu Ten's spirit, he had discovered an eight year old boy in the southern water tribe, whom he had already met years ago, when he first got out of the ice berg. Judging from the boy's presence, he was probably capable of bending water, but did not know it yet.

The avatar smiled to himself. He'd have to visit that boy.


End file.
